Don't go expecting a 'Carry On Up The Khyber', or one of the classic Carry Ons - there are a few negatives, such as the terrible animation, a poor back-projection sequence and, it has to be said, a little too much of Kenneth Williams' bottom, but it has a impressive cast and many funny moments. The 'most amorous experience' sequences - particularly Joan Sims in the laundrette and the ever-excellent Peter Butterworth's wartime reminiscence are particularly good. Barbara Windsor was said to have claimed the film as 'pornographic' and turned it down, but it is nothing of the sort, and for a so-called sex comedy, it's very conservative. I think that this is a big part of the problem people have with it, expecting either a Carry On (the humour is more blatant than any other Carry On film) or a Confessions-style sex film; the result is something in-between. The book, by Australian Lance Peters, is remarkably close to the film itself, though fortunately we are spared the sight of Mrs Dangle pleasuring herself on a washing machine (getting instead something far funnier) and a lesbian scene with the Wimbledon ladies champion! It's the last chance to see many of the Carry On greats together (also the last bow too for valued character actor Eric Barker) and is a massive step up from the previous film and series-nadir, England. And if you don't laugh when Kenneth Williams says "we couldn't find the stopcock", you probably aren't human.
Review of Carry on Emmannuelle
